CARRY TUESDAY'S MOMENTUM

United assistant boss Ned Kelly hopes that the side can carry momentum from Tuesday’s draw against Port Vale into Saturday’s clash at Colchester.

Kyle Wootton scored his first ever goal in injury time to secure a point for the Iron, much to the relief of Kelly, who felt the side could have got more out of the game.

Kelly told The Iron Player: “It was a game we thought we should’ve won and we had quite a lot of opportunities to score other than Kyle’s goal.

“If you’re going to get something, there’s no better time to get it with 30 seconds to go. We’re very pleased and the gaffer made positive subs.

“All three were part of why we scored the goal. Connor made a little bit of movement in the penalty area and took people away, Hakeeb’s delivered a brilliant cross, and the Kyle’s got his first ever goal.”

The Iron assistant felt United were dominant throughout and hoped to see a similar performance at Colchester, but with a more ruthless streak.

Kelly said: “I didn’t think they caused us too many problems at all. To concede a goal from a set-piece was disappointing from our point of view, but when you’re creating the chance we did, it’s a relief to score.

“We want to go into Colchester and do more of the same, but take them. They’ve had a couple of disappointing results lately, but before that they had two good victories.

“We won’t be underestimating them after the Chesterfield game and we will set up to win the game. It was a difficult evening for them, but that happens in football.

“We’ll just be concentrating on ourselves and hope to come back with the three points.”

Kelly confirmed that Dave Syers missed out on Tuesday with a stiff groin, but was confident he would be back in the squad for Saturday.

Goalkeeper Sam Slocombe stepped up his comeback from his broken arm, playing for the reserves on Thursday, and Kelly was pleased with the progress the stopper had made.

He said: “It’s his first game for a good while so it will be nice to see Sam Slocombe back on the Glanford Park pitch keeping clean sheets.

“He’s been training very well, but obviously it’s very different to that so will be good to see that.”

There are no new injuries to report on from the Port Vale clash and Kelly was pleased with preparation ahead of the trip to Colchester.

Kelly said: “We’ve done a second day of recovery today and the lads are in great spirits. It felt a bit like a victory when you have no points and then you claim one back like that.

“We’ll have a light session tomorrow and then travel down for the game and hope for a positive result.

“There are only a limited number of games left and we want to get three points in every one of the games we approach.”

See much more from Ned Kelly, Gary McSheffrey and Andrew Boyce on The Iron Player.